The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for spinning a synthetic multifilament yarn of the type disclosed in WO 95/15409 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,431.
In the apparatus and process of the above referenced publications, an air stream assists freshly extruded filaments in their advance. With that, it is accomplished that the solidification point of the filaments moves away from the spinneret. This leads to a delayed crystallization that favorably influences the physical properties of the yarn. Thus, for example, in the production of a POY yarn, it was possible to increase the withdrawal speed and thus, the draw ratio, without changing the elongation values of the yarn necessary for further processing.
The known spinning apparatus comprises a cooling tube and an air stream generator downstream of the spinneret. Between the spinneret and the cooling tube, an inlet cylinder extends with a gas-permeable wall. By the interaction of the inlet cylinder and the air stream generator, a quantity of air is caused to enter the cooling shaft, and to advance within the cooling shaft as an accelerated air stream in the direction of the advancing yarn. The inlet cylinder consists of a perforated, gas-permeable material. Therefore, the radially inflowing air quantity is proportional to the applied pressure difference that becomes greater as the yarn speed increases. Thus, the quantity of air entering the inlet cylinder becomes greater with an increasing distance from the spinneret.
However, it has shown that besides assisting the advance, it is necessary that the filaments uniformly firm up in their surface layers. While advancing through the inlet cylinder, the filaments are precooled in such a manner that the surface layer has firmed up before entering the cooling tube. In their core, the filaments are still molten when they enter the cooling tube, so that the final solidification occurs only in the cooling tube. Consequently, it is also necessary that all filaments be uniformly precooled. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a uniform quantity of air present over the entire cross section of the inlet cylinder, so that each filament in the cooling tube is uniformly assisted in its advance.
In the production of a yarn, the quality of the yarn is determined by the interaction of the filament properties. It is therefore known that for producing a high-quality yarn, each filament within a bundle of filaments must undergo an equal treatment. In the known method and apparatus, the solidification point is deliberately removed from the spinneret, so that the filaments solidify only after passing through a precooling zone in the cooling zone formed by the cooling tube. Thus, the filaments cover a relatively long distance, over which they are exposed to different air streams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,182 discloses a spinning apparatus, wherein the inlet cylinder is arranged in a pressure chamber. The inlet cylinder has a screen-like wall, so that based on the overpressure prevailing outside of the inlet cylinder, a greater pressure difference is obtained and, thus, a larger quantity of inflowing air. However, this leads to the problem that the filaments are already exposed to a considerable cooling effect within the inlet zone.
It is therefore an object of the invention to further develop a spinning apparatus of the initially described type such that it is possible to make available an air quantity adjusted to the uniform precooling of the filaments and an air quantity necessary for assisting the movement of the filaments.
Another further object of the invention is to further develop the method and the spinning apparatus such that all filaments of the filament bundle undergo a substantially uniform treatment until their solidification.
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by the provision of a melt spinning apparatus and method wherein the inlet cylinder is subdivided into several zones in the direction of the advancing yarn, each with a different permeability to gas for controlling the air quantity entering the inlet cylinder.
The invention would not have been suggested either by the spinning apparatus known from EP 0 580 977 or the spinning apparatus disclosed in DE 195 35 143. In the known spinning apparatus, the inlet cylinder downstream of the spinneret is constructed with its air permeability varying in the direction of the advancing yarn, so as to realize a cooling the filaments as a function of the yarn advance speed. The purpose of the known spinning apparatus is a complete cooling of the filaments within the inlet cylinder, and they are thus totally unsuited to generate an air stream that assists in the movement of the filaments in the case of only precooled filaments.
The invention has the advantage that, irrespective of the filament speed and irrespective of the differential pressure between the spin shaft and the surroundings, it is possible to influence the air quantity flowing into the spin shaft. This makes it possible to exert a purposeful influence on the properties of the filaments that originate from different zones of the spinneret. On the one hand, the influence may lie in that all filaments undergo a precooling for firming up the surface zones, if possible under the same cooling conditions. Furthermore, it is possible to influence the entry of the filaments into the cooling tube, as well as the development of the air stream in the cooling tube, in particular by the air quantity entering into the lower region of the inlet cylinder. The air quantity entering through the wall of the inlet cylinder is proportionately dependent on the gas permeability or the porosity of the wall. In the case of a high gas permeability, a larger quantity of air per unit time is introduced into the spin shaft under otherwise constant conditions. Conversely, in the case of a low gas permeability of the wall, a proportionately smaller air quantity enters the spin shaft.
The upper zone may have a greater gas permeability in the wall than the lower zone. This has the advantage that a relatively large quantity of air is available for cooling the filaments. A further advantage lies in that a substantially uniform distribution of the air quantity adjusts itself inside the spin shaft. Since in the upper zone the filament speed is low, and since furthermore the filaments are spaced from each other relatively wide due to the small distance from the spinneret, the air quantity is able to distribute itself in the upper zone of the inlet cylinder substantially unimpeded over the entire cross section of the spin shaft. With that, it is accomplished that within the filament bundle, a uniform air stream is able to develop in the cooling tube.
Alternatively, the upper zone may have a smaller gas permeability than the lower zone. This is especially suited to treat the filaments in a relatively weak precooling. From this follows the advantage of a particularly gentle cooling, which means a further improvement in spinning reliability. Spinning reliability means in this instance the quantity of filament breaks.
In the lower zone facing the cooling tube, however, a relatively large quantity of air enters the spin shaft, which facilitates the entry of the filament bundle into the cooling tube. This advantageously prevents the filaments from striking the tube wall in the region of the narrowest cross section.
It is also possible to decrease the gas permeability in the upper zone such that the upper zone becomes impermeable to gas. Thus, a quiet zone develops directly downstream of the spinneret. This quiet zone ensures a stable spinning of the filaments, and thus favors the formation of a uniform filament structure.
An intermediate zone may be positioned between the upper and lower zones, and the intermediate zone may have a smaller gas permeability than the lower zone and/or the upper zone. This has the advantage that both a uniform distribution of the air quantity is realized inside the spin shaft, and thus a uniform precooling of the filaments. On the other hand, it favors the advance of the filaments into the cooling tube. Since relatively little air enters the spin shaft in the center region of the inlet cylinder, an air stream oriented in the direction of the advancing yarn is already able to develop due to the filament speed. The air quantity supplied directly before the entry into the cooling tube thus forms an air stream that engages each filament substantially uniformly.
Since the filament speed increases as the distance from the spinneret becomes greater, and since the spacing between the individual filaments decreases at the same time, a specially advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that the gas permeability of the inlet cylinder is uniform within one zone in the direction of the advancing yarn. Thus, the air entering the spin shaft within the zone is dependent on the filament speed. This means that at a higher yarn speed, more air is supplied to the spin shaft.
The gas permeability of the wall of the inlet cylinder may differ within a zone in the direction of the advancing yarn. This makes it possible to generate over the length of the inlet cylinder a flow profile that contains no stepwise changes in the supply of the air quantity. Furthermore, it is possible to realize therewith that irrespective of the yarn speed, the air quantity entering the spin shaft can be maintained substantially unchanged over the length of the zone.
The wall of the inlet cylinder may be made from any porous material. In this connection, the wall of the inlet cylinder may be formed from a perforated sheet member having different perforations which define the plurality of zones. In this embodiment, it is possible to predetermine very precisely the gas permeability or air resistance within the wall. In this instance, the number of the inlet openings of the perforations and the diameter of the inlet openings of the perforations define the gas permeability.
An embodiment of the spinning apparatus is especially suited for generating an air stream that assists the filament movement. In this embodiment, a plurality of inlet openings forms the perforation of at least one zone. These inlet openings extend through the wall of the inlet cylinder obliquely with an inclination toward the direction of the advancing yarn, so that an air stream oriented in direction of the advancing yarn enters the inlet cylinder.
The wall of the inlet cylinder may comprise a wire cloth having different mesh sizes which define the plurality of zones. A high, substantially uniform radial air stream is thereby generated over the entire circumference of the inlet cylinder.
To be able to form the zones within the inlet cylinder, it is possible to stack individual cylinders with the same or with respectively different gas permeability. This may be realized by different mesh sizes of the wire cloth or by a different multi-layer arrangement of layers.
The changing of the gas permeability may be provided by means of a paper sleeve which is disposed in circumferential contact with the wall of the inlet cylinder. The paper sleeve thus performs an air filtering function, so that no impurities may enter the spin shaft.
To generate a uniform flow in the inlet cylinder and to prevent turbulences upon entry into the inlet cylinder, the wall in the interior of the inlet cylinder may mount in the region of at least one zone a plurality of baffles with an inclination extending from the wall in direction of the advancing yarn.
In a particularly advantageous further development of the invention, the inlet cylinder connects to the spinneret in heat transferring relationship. Thus, it is possible to heat in particular the upper zone of the inlet cylinder, which leads again to heating the air flowing through the wall, so that a shock-like cooling effect on the filaments is prevented.
In the previously described embodiments of the invention, the air stream generator may be formed by a blower in the region of the inlet cylinder, by an injector directly upstream of inlet into the cooling tube, or by a suction device that connects to the cooling tube on the outlet end thereof. The suction device has the special advantage that during spinning all emerging particles, such as for example monomers, are removed from the spin shaft. With that, a contamination of the spin shaft is prevented.
To produce a yarn of a very high, uniform quality, the arrangement of the nozzle bores within the spinneret is selected such that in the cooling tube, equidirectional and identical air streams oriented in the direction of the advancing yarn engage each individual filament.
The invention would not have been suggested either by the spinning apparatus and by the method known from DE 25 39 840. In the known method and known spinning apparatus, a uniform air stream that is used for treating the filaments is directed in the direction of, transversely, or oppositely to the direction of the advancing yarn. However, this does not apply to the spinning apparatus of the present invention. The vacuum atmosphere present in the cooling tube of the apparatus according to the invention generates an air stream in direction of the advancing yarn with a flow profile which is a function of the tube cross section and with different flow velocities.
With the present invention, the nozzle bores in the spinneret are positioned at locations based upon the prevailing flow profile of the air stream in the cooling tube and such that the air stream substantially uniformly assists the filaments in their advance through the cooling tube. Since the air stream engaging the filaments assists the filaments in their advance within the cooling tube, it is especially significant that a substantially uniform assistance in the advance be maintained for each of the filaments over the entire distance. The flow profile of the air stream that develops in the tube is dependent on the inlet geometry of the cooling tube, as well as on the inside condition of the cooling tube, and lastly on the diameter of the cooling tube and the kind of flow. In this connection, different flow velocities may develop inside the tube cross section, which would be bound to lead, in an even distribution of the filaments, to a different treatment within the tube cross section. Thus, the invention offers a possibility of arranging the filaments within the bundle of filaments in such a manner that each filament advances through the cooling tube at substantially the same flow velocity.
A funnel-shaped inlet cone may be positioned at the inlet end of the cooling tube, and the inlet bores may be annularly arranged so as to encircle an inlet zone. This has the advantage that the filament bundle safely enters the cooling tube, and that a less turbulent air stream develops in the inlet region of the cooling tube. In this connection, it has been found that the air stream inside the cooling tube exhibits a flow profile that tends to have a maximum flow velocity in the center of the cooling tube. Thus, the above configuration of the spinneret prevents the filaments from entering the cooling tube in the central region thereof.
With an oval or round tube cross section, the inlet zone of the spinneret may be encircled by one or more closed lines or circles of equally spaced apart bores. This is especially suited to advance the filaments through the cooling tube in zones of identical flow velocities. The arrangement of the nozzle bores in a closed line of bores further accomplishes that precooling is equalized inside the inlet cylinder.
The nozzle bores of adjacent lines or circles of bores are preferably offset from one another in the transverse direction. This provides a uniform precooling in the case of a plurality of lines of bores.
In a particularly advantageous further development of the spinning apparatus, the filaments advance at substantially the same distance from the wall of the inlet cylinder. This accomplishes an additional equalization of precooling and, thus, a reproducible firming up of surface layers.
To realize in the cooling tube a flow profile that is favorable for producing the yarn, it has been found that the spacing between the spinneret and the cooling tube should be from at least about 100 mm to at most about 1000 mm. In this connection, the cooling tube has a diameter in the region of the narrowest tube cross section from at least about 10 mm to at most about 40 mm.
To further delay crystallization of the filaments, and thus produce a yarn with higher elongation values, a heating device may be provided between the spinneret and the inlet cylinder for heat treating the filaments.
The same effect can also be accomplished by heating the ambient air outside on the periphery of a zone preferably the upper zonexe2x80x94of the inlet cylinder to a temperature from about 35xc2x0 C. to about 350xc2x0 C. The hot air entering the inlet cylinder thermally treats the filaments as a function of the air temperature before the actual cooling.
The apparatus of the present invention, the method of the invention, and the inventive use of a spinning apparatus are suitable to produce textile yarns or industrial yarns of polyester, polyamide, or polypropylene. It is possible to arrange downstream different treatment devices for the yarn to produce, for example, a fully drawn yarn (FDY), a partially oriented yarn (POY), or a highly oriented yarn (HOY).